


Scientific Matters

by teamchaosprez



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (kind of), Alien/Human Relationships, F/F, Falling In Love, Hurt/Comfort, Outer Space, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pregnancy, Recovery, Road Trips, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-10 23:25:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11702037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teamchaosprez/pseuds/teamchaosprez
Summary: The Diamonds are always right. But what happens when they're wrong? Well, you take their experiment subject and make a run for it with her, obviously.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't as bad as the tags imply i promise,, but yes welcome to the most fucked up premise i've thought of recently

It was over. Earth was not going to go to the Diamonds; it was clear now that, no matter how much they fought, the Crystal Gems would just continue to deplete their numbers and raise their own; whether that be from their leader showing compassion and recruiting good Quartz soldiers or from somebody poofing a Homeworld operative on Earth and storing them wherever they kept their prisoners of war. It was not an easy decision to surrender and leave the planet alone, but it was what the most efficient deciders in the universe chose, so not a single gem on Homeworld questioned it.

Even though the battle over the planet was over, however, the Diamonds - or, more specifically, White Diamond - wanted to know more about what made it so attractive that it would take so many loyal gems away from their assignments. Peridot 5XG, for her part, respected that. The Diamonds were always right, and knowledge was power, so she didn’t see any problems with it. However, it was how they were doing their studies that the peridot found to be a little… well, for lack of a better term, fucked up, and if she really wanted to go into detail, she thought it was cruel and inhumane.

After all, there was a human zoo full of unused life forms that they could do these experiments on. They were raised in captivity, and only knew what the amethysts and holly blue agate taking care of them had taught them. They could be told that they would be returned home, and not every experiment would need to be done on the same human every time. White Diamond, however, claimed that they needed a modern human for their experiments, despite there being very little difference in biology if one used the briefly stored human male for reference.

So they had kidnapped a human female - young, barely older than an adolescent - before they left the planet. Tore her away from her family, locked her away, gave her amnesia, and brought her straight to Homeworld. She had been completely removed from her own kind, and subject to invasive studies on her biology, learning how almost all of her systems worked, only ever allowing her to go unconscious on the rare occasion that they needed to cut her open. She was not given a name, referred to only as L-4P5-F, but as time went on it became more and more apparent that gems had little idea of how to take care of humans - she became thin, sickly, pale. The deep blue color of her hair faded until it was a pale green, dark brown at the root of where it started growing. She was almost unrecognizable from the human they’d caught.

The holly blue agate from the human zoo had been called in - she gave those in charge of the human advice on what to feed her, and how often, to make sure that she didn’t get sick. Her cell was changed to a warmer temperature. She gained a little bit of weight, but not all of it returned, and there was no way to fix her hair. But at least she wasn’t sick all the time anymore, and some color had returned to her cheeks. She was given some time to recover… but that ended when White Diamond had an idea.

There was a half human, half gem living on the planet earth, going by the name of Steven. The head Diamond wanted to know if it would be possible to replicate the results with changes to the situation. Would it be possible for a gem to impregnate a human? If she did, would there be geodes, or a singular half human child? White Diamond herself would not be able to mate with the human without shapeshifting, so it was ordered that quartz soldiers would make an attempt at impregnating her on a nightly basis. Peridot 5XG was placed in charge of supervising and scanning the human, and keeping track of her health as well as the wellbeing of the offspring that was produced.

It was an honor, to be put in charge of a project this big. Peridot was not  _ blind _ to that. She knew that she was lucky to even be considered to the role!

She found no enjoyment, however, in sitting by and watching the human be violated. She didn’t like the whimpers of pain from the girl; she didn’t like it when she bled. She didn’t like the way she often curled in on herself after, and refused to acknowledge anybody until later on. She didn’t like the smugness of the quartz soldiers as they bragged about it later. And she  _ certainly _ didn’t like that the human would flinch when she went in to try and help clean her up. She  **hated** that she couldn’t help.

The peridot wanted to save the human. She wanted to take her far, far away from the genetics lab where she was being held - far away from Homeworld in general.  _ She _ wanted to get away from the genetics lab and from Homeworld; every time she scanned the girl and found that she had failed to get pregnant, a spike of anxiety for her own future ran through her. It was not a good time to be in charge of White Diamond’s research and have it not work. Several of her colleagues had been shattered for that, and she was young; too young to die.

Even when the tests came back positive for the human’s pregnancy, it was bittersweet. Speaking to White Diamond was enough to let her know that, even though the quartz soldiers would be sent away to wherever their duties would take them next, the human girl was still to be isolated and kept track of. Peridot was to be her only company. She could not have access to any other humans; she could not leave the lab just to go to the human zoo and be surrounded by her own species in a habitat specially created for them. She had to stay within the confines of those white walls within which so much of her youth had been stolen from her.

The final straw for Peridot, however, was when she asked what would happen to the child.

“We’re going to track its growth and childhood, but if it doesn’t match up with our expectations, we’re going to need to kill it and try again,” White Diamond had responded, her voice bored as she studied her fingernails like they were more interesting than the peridot in charge of her experiments. “We probably won’t permit it to live to adulthood. We don’t want any hybrids running around.”

She had to say that she understood despite the bile rising in her throat, and salute in acceptance before she ended the call. Peridot felt sick with that information, and for a few moments, she sat in despair, not sure how she was going to tell this to the human. Not sure how she was even going to be able to  _ face _ the human, see those sad blue eyes filled with contempt on her, hear her soft voice growl at her, and tell her that her child probably wasn’t going to live very long, and that the entire process might have to repeat itself.

So she decided not to. She would never have to tell the human about that, because it was never going to happen. She was going to take her, and leave; the issue was that she had no way to take the human back to her home planet of earth, where she could be back with her fellow people. Peridot was sure that she herself would be somewhat safe there as well, if such a huge amount of gems had managed to make the planet their home.

She just needed to wait for the agate to be sent to the genetics lab again, and then she could steal the Homeworld ship that was sent to the little satellite orbiting Homeworld. She knew how to pilot the hand ships, and she knew how to get to Earth in theory. She could make it there was long as she moved quickly. The human was in her first trimester of pregnancy when Peridot began planning, and for the most part during the planning she just did her job as she was supposed to. She didn’t want to spill anything to the human and get her hopes up; she didn’t want her to give them away.

Towards the end of the human’s second trimester of pregnancy, she was beginning to worry that the opportunity to take her and run would never present itself. Just when she was beginning to give up hope, an agate was sent to check in on the progress and report back to White Diamond, and then it was a matter of being sneaky about it; it was a long enough trip to the genetics lab that the gems sent there would spend at least a little while away from their ship.

So she showed them the data that they were searching for, pulling up a huge screen that would show the readings of the human’s vitals as well as the fetus’ vitals. As the official gems crowded around the screen, humming and murmuring to each other and shoving Peridot out of their circle, the green gem slipped away and rushed down the hallway that led to the human’s cell. She was going to have to show her to them eventually, so it wasn’t as though her running back to the room was anything suspicious. She just needed to be careful, and quick.

The girl was leaning against the far wall, knees tucked under her chin, the position looking somewhat awkward with her swollen belly. Peridot didn’t even consider the possibility of her being uncomfortable before she wrapped her arms around the human, feeling her flinch as she lifted her into her enhanced arms. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice soft and raspy as the gem carefully carried her out of the room and began to jog down the hallway towards the hangars. “What’s going on? Where are you taking me?” Panic settled into the human’s voice, and she started trying to struggle. “Please, please, don’t take me to any more torture and prodding. I’ve been good and cooperative.”

“I know you have,” Peridot responded, almost impatiently, stopping and pressing a finger to her lips to signal the human to keep quiet as she glanced into the room where the agate and generals were looking at the data. She then broke into a sprint as she rushed out, and spoke again to explain. “I’m taking you out of here. I don’t know if you can remember it, but I’m going to take you back to Earth. That’s where you came from. You’re going to be safe there. No more pain.”

The human uncurled ever so slightly, watching her face with furrowed eyebrows and a curious little frown on her face. “... Where I came from? You’re taking me home?” Her blue eyes lit up, and a small smile replaced the frown. This was the first time that Peridot had ever seen her actually look happy, and she felt lighter at being the reason why. The poor girl didn’t remember enough to even consider being suspicious; she only seemed gleeful. “Oh, my god, thank you, thank you, thank you!” She straightened up to wrap her arms around Peridot’s neck in a tight hug, and the green gem blushed slightly.

“Don’t thank me just yet. We still need to get out of here.” She reached the ship, and pressed her detached digits against the side to get it to unlock. Peridot sprinted inside, dashing down the hall and hearing the door close behind her as she rushed to the control room. She set the human down at the entrance of the bridge, and she almost immediately pressed her hands into the controls, shuddering a bit as the ship coursed into her and she began to steer it out of the hangar.

She didn’t look back as the genetics lab as they took off, but she was sure that there was no way she could ever show her face professionally again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis has a flashback. Her mood improves pretty quickly, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry bout the wait. i've been p overwhelmed with my new job, keeping up with my youtube channel, etc.  
> if you wanna check out my channel check the note at the bottom

Three hours into their journey, the girl fell asleep. Peridot wasn’t surprised, as even with the boredom she had trouble sleeping in the genetics lab due to the constant fear that ruled her life; she was probably pretty deprived of the rest that humans so needed. The gem was somewhat honored that she was trusted enough that the girl could get some sort of sleep, and for the most part the first fifteen hours or so of the trip went smoothly. Her companion slept for twelve hours, her soft face youthful and rested for the first time since Peridot had met her.

However, the peace did not last. After fifteen hours of their journey to the planet Earth, the girl woke up, screaming and sobbing as if she was in pain or, at the very least, frightened out of her wits. Peridot was startled, but she rushed to her charge’s aid, reaching out to touch her - but the human flinched away when she made the move, so she chose not to, instead kneeling next to her and  _ trying _ to be reassuring, absolutely helpless as the girl clutched the sides of her head and hyperventilated. The gem realized with a light pang that, if she was pushing her away, then she was probably remembering something relating to being hurt by her species.

This poor human had been through so much. The peridot wanted to protect her; reassure her that everything was going to be just fine, that there was nothing to worry about and that she wouldn’t be hurt again - not under Peridot’s watch. She didn’t know how she was supposed to convey that in words, though, and she wasn’t sure whether or not the girl would even believe her. The geneticist may have gotten her out of the lab, but she had also been the one to run a bunch of the tests. Anxiety leapt into Peridot’s throat. She had never wanted to hurt this human, but she had, and now she was suffering and there was nothing that the young gem could do to help her.

She was ripped out of her thoughts, however, when the girl leaned against her shoulder, her breathing slowing down to a more natural pace as she cried. Peridot hesitated, and let her enhanced arm wrap around the human’s waist, swallowing thickly and doing her best to keep her calm. “It was just a bad dream, I promise,” she murmured softly, sucking in a deep breath. “Nothing is going to hurt you. I’m going to keep you safe. We’ve made some progress towards Earth already.”

The human nodded against her, sniffling slightly and wiping at her wettened cheeks with the back of one hand. “I know,” she rasped quietly, letting out a shaky breath. She seemed to have calmed herself down efficiently, and was now just trying to stop crying. “I’m just scared.” She sniffed, closing her eyes as she leaned more heavily against Peridot. It hit the gem’s mind then that she didn’t remember anything before the genetics lab. She had her memory wiped.

She didn’t know who her family was. She didn’t know what it was like on the planet where she was born. She didn’t even know her real name - and she had never been given even a nickname to go by. She probably had an idea of what it was like on her home, probably from vague feelings or dreams or something like that, but what if it was nothing like what she remembered? For a moment, Peridot could understand her anxiety. She couldn’t imagine what life would be like if she had to deal with that.

“I know you are,” Peridot replied slowly and quietly, wracking her brain for human names. She couldn’t think of any; nobody had really cared enough to do much research on Earth culture while the battles for the planet were going on, more focused on just destroying the damn lump of rock. However, she could think of a kind of gem that this girl reminded her of. Moody, small, blue - even with some similar features. Diplomatic but shy. Brave. “But I think you’re strong enough to work through it, Lapis,” she affirmed with a firm nod. The name had slipped out of her mouth before she could even consider that maybe the girl would be a little confused.

“Lapis?” the human furrowed her brows, sitting up from her spot leaning on Peridot to give her a look with questioning eyes. She had probably heard the term lapis thrown around in regards to other gems, given how often she had to be in the presence of White Diamond or lesser nobilities and listen to the small talk about new planets that they got up to while her checkups were going on. “Why did you call me that? I’m not a gem.” Her voice got even more puzzled the more she talked, and the green technician could feel herself blush a little at how silly she was now realizing this was.

“Well, I need to call you something, and you remind me of the lazuli gems that I’ve met around Homeworld. So since we don’t know your real name right now, I figured it might be easiest to just call you Lapis until we have more information from humans about who you are,” the gem explained, a little unsurely, but relaxed fairly quickly when she realized that the human was just confused, not insulted or anything of the sort. Her worried expression melted quickly into a more calm one, and the human gave a firm nod, almost seeming… pleased.

“I like it,” the girl - Lapis - said in a voice that told Peridot that she was thinking about something.  _ “Lapis. _ It feels… right. It feels like something that I should be called…” Her voice trailed off as she thought, and for a moment the gem thought that she might be remembering something - but the human just shook her head with a soft sigh and gave her a small, tired smile. “Thanks for calming me down, though, Peridot. And thanks for the nickname. You… you should get back to driving the ship. I’ll be okay from now on, I promise. I’ll just look around. I won’t make another peep.”

Normally, Peridot would be a little bit suspicious of the human’s words simply because of how they were worded. However, she knew that there was nothing that a human could use reliably to take over - and she had no idea how to get to Earth on her own. Only a gem could figure out the coordinates and put them into the ship without any assistance. Honestly, given how trapped Lapis had been for the last several months, the technician couldn’t really blame her wanting to wander around the space where she was staying now. “Okay. I think this ship has an audio system set up, so if you get lost or something and need me just call out and I’ll be with you in a moment.”

Lapis nodded enthusiastically, smiling brightly, and then rushed off. Peridot watched her go, relieved and even a little happy that the girl was feeling better - even if her smiles and excitement were faked, she at least wasn’t having a panic attack anymore, which was a step in the right direction.

She hesitated for just a moment, and then rose to her feet and walked back to the control panel. She let her detached fingers sink into the screen, and let herself be lost to her thoughts as she steered the ship in the direction of the planet she had been taught to hate.

* * *

 

Even the smallest amount of freedom was enough to get Lapis excited. She had been a prisoner for so long - as far back as she could remember, though she knew from what Peridot told her that most of her memories had been stolen from her and only a fraction of her life was what she could remember.

Now she was out of captivity - she wasn’t a science experiment anymore. There wasn’t a  _ lot _ of freedom that she could experience right now, granted, considering the fact that she was on a ship not built by her species in the middle of the vast vacuum of space - but it was more than she was used to. Peridot wasn’t trying to restrict her movement, or trying to keep her in a small cell or something. She was free to wander around the spacecraft as much as she wanted, and nobody was going to yell at her or abuse her if she decided not to remain in one place.

She felt safe, she felt free, and she felt so much happier than she was used to. Yes, she had been awoken from the most sleep she’d experienced in a long time by a nightmare about a faceless gem violating and hurting her, but now instead of waking up to the nightmare happening again, she could walk around and think about how bright her future was going to be and cheer up. It was enough to inspire her to practically  _ skip _ through the hallways as she tried to memorize the ship.

She was going to go home, and meet other humans, and maybe find her family and friends - maybe she would even remember something as soon as she was in the place that she knew was where she was from. Lapis was excited, and she wasn’t sure whether it was naive of herself to be so ready. She didn’t especially care if it was, though, because after being so miserable for such a long time she figured that she deserved some sort of happiness for the moment.

She came to a stop at a large window that spanned across one of the walls, and leaned her body against the cold glass. Wide blue eyes looked with wonder out at the stars, a work of art that covered galaxies and time immortal. As far back as she could remember - and, granted, that wasn’t very far - she had only ever seen the distant twinkling lights in passing, very briefly and with maybe even a hint of disappointment. Even just seeing the vastness of space for herself, able to stand and stare for as long as she wanted, was enough to make her heart soar.

She rested her head against the glass of the window, one hand going down to rest against the swell of her stomach as she smiled softly. She couldn’t wait for her baby to be able to see the stars. Yes, it was fucked up the way her offspring got where they were, but she couldn’t help but think that at least something positive was coming out of it - at least her child would be able to live a life where they wouldn’t be observed closely, nothing more than a science experiment to the gems that ordered their creation. At least they would be able to choose what they wanted in life - and Lapis quietly made a promise as she looked out into space that nobody would ever hurt this baby or take their memory away.

She would make sure that they were safe. She would make sure that they never had to live in a world where they woke up with nightmares of traumatizing memories every night. Lapis trusted Peridot enough to believe that the technician would help her in protecting her offspring, too - if she was willing to break her out of the science facility, steal a ship, and make a run for it, then she was certainly brave enough to help her keep a little human child alive and well for a long, long time.

Lapis’ heart was light and she felt hope in her soul for the first time since she could remember. She was happy, optimistic - the human was looking forward to the rest of her life. Looking forward to stepping foot on Earth, and having a baby, and being safe and sound and being able to run as far as she wanted and explore an entire planet if she really wanted to.

A quick memory hit her, then. Not a big one - the sound of rushing waves and the smell of saltwater in the air.

Even just that little hint of her past was enough to make her even happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this channel is basically fics except they're sims and there's a new half hour video every day instead of whenever the fuck: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqZF-_JyFiLQ685LjEvAakg

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to comment if you enjoy!


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